Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

Let's talk jazz for a minute. I have a cursory knowledge of the major jazz releases of the period, but not a particularly deep background into any specific subgenres or under-the-radar releases. In addition to these albums, what else should I try to listen to:

Briefly, here are my issues with selecting jazz releases: 1) I don't have a particularly deep background in jazz, and feel I am only acquainted with the canon, which of course doesn't add much value to the voting; 2) apart from issue 1, I don't feel as if I have enough of a grasp of music theory to distinguish among lesser known or more avant garde releases with any real insight.

Bryan and John, I know you guys mentioned that you had some deeper jazz recs, I'd love to hear those. Also, I'd appreciate any insight as to how to handle more difficult jazz. Is it best to simply jump into deep water and try to figure out how to swim later, or it good idea to work through some more foundational and intermediate stuff first? If foundation is useful, what albums do you go to get it?

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

A few recommendations that I really love:

Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity

Free Jazz was one of the two huge stylistic developments to come out of the 60s, and in its nascent form the term was applied to a wide array of styles, from Ornette Coleman's twin quartets soloing without charts and fighting rhythms to Cecil Taylor's cluster bomb piano explosions to Albert Ayler's bleating screeches. Ayler is the most "rock" of the early free jazz practitioners, with melodic (if raw) heads capping the furious soloing. Spiritual Unity has two takes of Ayler's signature tune, Ghosts, and the first version is amongst my favorite jazz tunes. It's just so vicious sounding.

Cecil Taylor - Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come

Taylor plays piano like Jackson Pollock painted: violent bursts of piano dancing around and prodding rhythm and melody rather than fitting into them. It can sometimes be difficult listening, but if you give Taylor time his work can bloom into very powerful and intense pieces of work. This one is a good mid-point between the solo piano freakouts and the full band recordings that nod more to Ornette Coleman. Not easy, but good.

I'm a big fan of Coltrane's free-jazz albums, but they're particularly abrasive and harsh for the uninitiated. If you feel like jumping into that field though, check out Ascension, his first real free album. There are moments of more conventional soloing that pop out of the maelstrom, but they get pretty out.

Sun Ra - Atlantis

Sun Ra has a huge discography and covered a wide array of sounds throughout the years. His most influential and widely-heard period really started with this record, which finds Ra using an electric keyboard for a set of short, sparse tracks heavily accenting their congo rhythms. These tracks were influential in the development of hard funk and jazz funk. The second half is a long song featuring the whole Sun Ra Arkestra, his big band. They do their version of free jazz, dubbed space jazz. There's more melody and the rhythms, when there, are insistent. A killer record.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

Bryan recommends some amazing albums.

I would lean towards Meditations for late era Coltrane, which is an album of Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders soloing at each other. And I would go for Unit Structures for Taylor but I don't actually know his Nefertiti, though it is already on playlists to listen to. Also Bitches Brew was released in 1970. His best record of the 60s to my ears is Miles Smiles.

As to those ears, mine are largely untrained. I find highly recommended records and listen and see if I like them. Giving them a lot of attention, seeing what the songs/records do for me on an emotional level. There is a lot of technical details and references that are largely lost on me.

I have been working to know more of those references by listening to older jazz (Louis, Dizzy, Bird and Duke). And the GAS that many jazz standards are working from. So, really, my answer is to listen to more jazz.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

Put it on front to back. I'm just coming to the end and it's a great experience that I'd mostly forgotten. Tony Williams, Bobby Hutcherson and Richard Davis are the most insane rhythm section, making complex yet funky grooves that get really out there and weird while still moving.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

I've been digging heavily back into Neil Young. As much as I love Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (and it'll probably be in my top 5 for the decade) it's not in my top five for his career, and can we please get to the 70s so I can just obsess about Neil for awhile.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

Oh, and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Mingus is potentially the most excellent and fully developed jazz album of the 60s, no matter how great some artists got.* The expansion that happens throughout the album, the tension between melody and experimentation, and the rhythmic vitality of it all makes it a huge classic.

*Miles peaked in the 70s. Coltrane, Rollins and Dolphy have some argument here, as does Ornette, but I think this one has a comfortable seat atop the throne.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

I came here to say that anyone who doesn't know the first album by Moby Grape really needs to rectify that situation. It's not on Spotify, but you can find a bad youtube rip fairly easily I'm sure. I know I've already raved over them in here, but that album is just goddamn perfect.

I'm also willing to admit my mistakes, including the fact that, for over a decade, I've written off Sketches of Spain as boring and underdeveloped. I found it for reasonably cheap on vinyl recently, and dear god that album is so full of great melody, performance and tension. It sounds, at times, like Talk Talk before Talk Talk were even a glimmer of an idea. And that's weird, spacious Talk Talk, not Talk Duran Talk Duran.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

My goal, before our reviews for this are due, is to listen critically to each of my 60s records at least once. I know many of them like the back of my hand, but I'm going to go through each one, give it a full spin and then give it a 1-10 ranking to help me build my list. First up: Herb Alpert - Whipped Cream and Other Delights.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

Originally Posted by bmack86

A few recommendations that I really love:

Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity

Free Jazz was one of the two huge stylistic developments to come out of the 60s, and in its nascent form the term was applied to a wide array of styles, from Ornette Coleman's twin quartets soloing without charts and fighting rhythms to Cecil Taylor's cluster bomb piano explosions to Albert Ayler's bleating screeches. Ayler is the most "rock" of the early free jazz practitioners, with melodic (if raw) heads capping the furious soloing. Spiritual Unity has two takes of Ayler's signature tune, Ghosts, and the first version is amongst my favorite jazz tunes. It's just so vicious sounding.

Cecil Taylor - Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come

Taylor plays piano like Jackson Pollock painted: violent bursts of piano dancing around and prodding rhythm and melody rather than fitting into them. It can sometimes be difficult listening, but if you give Taylor time his work can bloom into very powerful and intense pieces of work. This one is a good mid-point between the solo piano freakouts and the full band recordings that nod more to Ornette Coleman. Not easy, but good.

I'm a big fan of Coltrane's free-jazz albums, but they're particularly abrasive and harsh for the uninitiated. If you feel like jumping into that field though, check out Ascension, his first real free album. There are moments of more conventional soloing that pop out of the maelstrom, but they get pretty out.

Sun Ra - Atlantis

Sun Ra has a huge discography and covered a wide array of sounds throughout the years. His most influential and widely-heard period really started with this record, which finds Ra using an electric keyboard for a set of short, sparse tracks heavily accenting their congo rhythms. These tracks were influential in the development of hard funk and jazz funk. The second half is a long song featuring the whole Sun Ra Arkestra, his big band. They do their version of free jazz, dubbed space jazz. There's more melody and the rhythms, when there, are insistent. A killer record.

To these records I would also add this post-Coltrane masterpiece from Pharoah Sanders.

Re: The Decades List Project: The 1960s

And Mitch, have you explored Art Blakey's 60s catalog at all? The man was nothing if not prolific & brilliant in his output. Freedom Rider, Caravan, Ugetsu, Indestructible, and 'S Make It are all deserving of a critical listen, and that's just the cream of his 60s work as a bandleader. There are probably another dozen 3-star records that are certainly worth checking out when the mood hits.